What is IT?

The technology of information enables mechatronic problem solving.

Kevin C Craig, PhD -- EDN, December 15, 2011

To get a better understanding of this misunderstood field, I turned to a colleague with a unique perspective. George Corliss, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Marquette University, has more than 40 years of experience in mathematics, computer science, and computer engineering. He and I always try to find ways to be inclusive, so our conversation took that tack. He started our discussion by turning around the subject to focus on the technology of information; that reframing was eye-opening and led to valuable observations.

Human beings are inherently problem solvers, and all disciplines, including business, social science, science, and engineering, need critically thinking problem solvers. Problem solving requires complete, accurate information at the right time and in the right context. This requirement becomes more of an imperative when people are solving complex problems because, to avoid catastrophe, you must manage complexity. The technology of information deals with acquiring, transmitting, storing, analyzing, disseminating, and applying information in human-centered problem-solving activities. Humans must transform that information into useful knowledge for the problem at hand. That connection between all problem-solving disciplines and IT is critical.


An analogy that applies in this case is the field of controls. This area is a pervasive, enabling technology that people for many years thought of as the domain of specialists and applied it as an afterthought, even though it was essential. We now well appreciate that integrating controls into a system design from the start of the design process leads to a superior design in which all trade-offs are available. The challenge is not in realizing that something must happen but in making it happen.

You could say the same thing for IT. If IT, as a discipline, is separate from any discipline’s problem-solving process, the result is a system without focused, timely information, which may be undesirable, unfeasible, unsustainable, or unusable. Simply put, it might be the wrong solution to the problem.

Is this scenario now happening? If so, how can we change it? If not, how can we prevent it from happening? It is all about culture and perception. IT practitioners are tool builders and integrators, not servants to set up and maintain computer systems and install software. They focus on the fundamentals of human-computer interaction, information management, programming, networking, and Web systems; information assurance and security; system administration and maintenance; and system integration and architecture. They must identify and analyze user needs and take them into account in the selection, creation, evaluation, and administration of computer-based systems. They must also be able to effectively integrate IT approaches into the user’s environment. Interaction is a two-way street, and we must all embrace this concept for the competitive advantage for which we all strive.

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